Usually I'm in favor of this free market capitalist system. Sure, it has its excesses, but unions, labor laws and antitrust laws generally keep those excesses in check. (The things that keep them in check also have their excesses, but let's ignore that issue for now.)

But when the system forces me to make a difficult, potentially expensive decision, suddenly I have a problem with it.

I wrote a few days ago that I was more likely to get a PlayStation 3 than an Xbox 360 because the PS3's exclusive games appealed to me more.

Since then, BioShock, my second most anticipated multiplatform next-generation console game, has gone Xbox 360-exclusive.

BioShock will also be released for Windows, but I'm only willing to sit hunched at a computer desk for long periods for adventure games... and work. BioShock is neither.

This creates a dilemma. I have a few options, but not one is good.

I can buy an Xbox 360 instead of a PlayStation 3, but then I won't be able to play any of the games on my longer list of anticipated PS3-exclusives, and it effectively means the end of my large PlayStation and PS2 game collection.

I can buy an Xbox 360 and a PlayStation 3, but that's expensive, and probably not worth the space in my TV stand and inputs on my television set since the two consoles do little to differentiate themselves from one another.

Or I can buy a PlayStation 3 and not get an Xbox 360, but then I won't be able to play BioShock.

A decision that amounts to but it's only a game shouldn't be so difficult.